[Riot]

Here is the Racing and Medication Consortium classifications of drugs of abuse. Which class do folks think the FDA-approved steroid drugs are in?

Class 1 - drugs that have no generally accepted medical use in the racehorse, and very high potential for altering the performance of a race

Class 2 - drugs that have no accepted therapeutic use in the racehorse, and some that have accepted therapeutic use but have high potential for abuse or affecting the outcome of a race

Class 3 - drugs that have or have not accepted therapeutic use, but have potential for affecting outcome of a race, less than Class 2 drugs

Class 4 - drugs that have therapeutic use and are routinely used in racehorses, drugs that may influence performance, but generally have a more limited ability to do so.

Class 5 - drugs that have therapeutic effects for which concentration limits have been established
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Regarding the FDA-approved therapeutic steroids in the horse. Current withdrawal rules are 1 week in CA, 1 day in FL, IL, LA, 2 days in NY, 3 days in KY, TX

These are based upon "best guestimate" - when you examine "pharmacokinetics" for these drugs, there is little there - we simply don't know for sure. All we have is clinical impressions and experience with use.

Some jurisdictions have now changed the above withdrawal times to 30 days. While at the same time admitting to horsemen that they do not know the real withdrawal times, and warn that horses may vary in metabolism of the drug, and tell horsemen that they shouldn't give the drug for 120 days (up to 4 months) before a race to be "sure" not to risk a false positive!

That's beyond silly.